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Posted by Terri - Mischief Arizona OEB
(Mischief) on 5/8/2008, 2:27 pm, in reply to "How many is to many"
A good mother will rotate the pups herself. She knows who has eaten more than they should. Weigh daily and make sure all are gaining. Make sure you put the slower gainers on the nipple routinely throughout the day to make sure they are getting their share.
Don't supplement unless you have to. This is not just my opinion, but a scientific fact. Early supplementation of any milk replacer or goats milk can cause in immune response causing allergic issues later in life. Those replacers and any other milk except what mother can produce contain proteins that are foreign and the pups will develop antigens against those proteins. Any immune stressors by introduction of foriegn protiens can cause problems.
I learned this the hard way myself.
Also, if you have kids - think how the pediatricians warn against so many foods in babies under one year - like egg whites, strawberries - foods that can be highly allergenic. Same process.
I had a girl that got several bee stings (and here in az, who knows what other spiders/scorpions and other critters got her despite our protection) throughout her first three years. Every exposure against her immune system created an antigenic response - stressing the immune system. Her immune system is now full of these antigens that react against many different protiens and enzymes
If you have to bottle feed because there is no mother available, than hope you can at least start after two weeks of age at earliest.
Worst case scenario, if you have a pup that has a low blood sugar and is lethargic - give it glucose/water or get a Lactated Ringers or a D5W fluid bolus by your vet (unlss you can start an IV or do a SC fluid infusion - but not many know how - especially on a little puppy)
If possible, get a surrogate mother to nurse or to at least get milk from them. You can increase your girls milk production by simply making sure that the pups are nursing all the time - its a supply/demand scenario. With all the good pumps available over the counter - at walmart even - you can also pump off excess milk and feed the smaller pups that via a bottle or tube feed. The more milk that is "requested" the more she will produce. And of course the obvious - she needs her water increased as well as her food. I free feed all my nursing mothers and have been pretty lucky
I did have that one little runt that I did end up bottle feeding because he just wouldn't gain weight (12.4 ounces at 12 days old!)- I gave him away on a strict neuter promise with no guarantee that there wouldn't be a problem later with allergies. They are well prepared for any issues. I made that decision to not let him die for my own selfish reasons. That could come back to haunt me - but the new owners have been deeply educated on the potential problems. He could spend his entire life on prednisone - not fun and definitely not without risk.
Good Luck
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